guitar pots

[jrfrond]

This is a fabulous thread with great posts by great people. But in the end, the ONLY way to find out is to buy some pots, solder 'em in, and see what you like.

As far as the pots themselves go, to me, CTS, Taiwan Alpha, Bourns and even the new Chinese contender on the block, Song Huei, are about equal in quality. I've had good results and issues with ALL of them. Perhaps CTS has a better rep because they are more commonly available in the 3/8" bushing size. All of the others are too, but sometimes only on special order. Bourns, which are available from Mouser (and which I use a lot of) are available with both the metric M8.0 x .75 as well as American 3/8-32 bushing, if that spec is a dealbreaker.

[Guitarist]

What i like about 250KΩ pots is that when you dial it down a bit, your pickup's tone stays more intact. Maybe a add switch to add 680KΩ in series with your pot(s) and call it a 4+dB treble booster. Dang, I gotta try that on my current build, a sing/hum Jimmy-Jem!

*Hey, 300 posts finally!

[Guitarist]

Audio Sample - ground lifting

A basic A/B test. Axe ---> Dano EQ (to buffer) ----> Macbook Line In ----> Garageband w. amp models. Ground of BOTH posts get connected/opened.

Big difference eh! BTW, just built my new guitar, the Strata-Jem. Not pic'd is the decaled Fender headstock

And, added a bash version where the difference is (more) apparent.

[Mark Hammer]

1) Larger diameter pots on a guitar provide extra insurance against noise. Generally speaking, the larger the diameter of the pot the wider the resistive strip inside, and the better engineered the wiper that rubs against it. The wiper often has several "fingers" or tines at the end that act like miniature compression springs. Large (24mm) diameter pots tend to have 4 or 5 tines/fingers making contact with the resistive strip, and smaller (12/16mm) often have 3.

2) The impact of volume pot value on tone and loading will ultimately depend on how much of the time you leave the volume at max. If you DO tend to leave it on max, and only turn down to hear a conversation, then pot value will be something to be actively planned out as a tone-shaping component. If you're the type of player who is perpetually futzing with your volume control during a song, then you should note that ALL pots will load down the pickups. The moment you move that pot wiper from the end-point, whatever resistance is on the pickup side of the wiper (as opposed to the ground side of the wiper) is added in series to the pickup and will load it down.